You Are Getting Creative...Very Creative

Brainstorming sessions coming up dry? Try hypnotism. Susan Spiegel Solovay, a former creative executive at ad shop Grey Global Group, says she’s getting more calls from companies wanting to use hypnosis—one of her focus-group tools—on employees. The quest for new ideas is also keeping corporate hypnotist Hal Goldberg busy. Requests are up 50% this year at his Laguna Woods (Calif.) firm, which has conducted consumer focus groups for Campbell Soup. Hypnosis, he says, works by making people ultra-relaxed—through breathing, meditation, and visualization. In that state, people are less inhibited, says Goldberg, and may offer “their craziest ideas, which are sometimes the best.” Hypnotized folks can also better recall past experiences, he claims—a boon because “many great ideas are hitchhikes on previous knowledge.” New York-based Solovay charges $10,000 to $20,000 for six hours of sessions with six to eight employees. Guy Nouri, CEO of Web video-networking company Dragonfly, says Solovay’s sessions moved Dragonfly toward a focus—“innovate, simplify, and inspire”—that helped it sell services to the likes of Hilton and Fendi. “Initially I was skeptical,” he says, “but it was very practical.” –Aili McConnon